Rockhopper is an interesting character that all penguins should know about. It may help to go to the Book Room above the Coffee Shop to read stories about his journeys and contributions to CP.

For those of you who do not wish to spend your time doing so, Rockhopper is the friendly pirate penguin who visits actual CP only a few times a year. If you’re lucky, you’ll catch a sneak peak in the telescope (on the top of the Lighthouse) and see his ship on the horizon. This means that Rockhopper will be returning soon, but soon can also mean in a few weeks or months. When Rockhopper is here, his ship will appear next to the Lighthouse and you can climb aboard and explore the deck and captains quarters. He often has a store set up in which you can purchase various things, sometimes they are pirate, sometimes they relate to the project Rockhopper is involved in.

Right now, Rockhopper is supporting CP’s Coins for Change program. If I had to estimate, I’d say CP establishes this either twice a year or annually but I am not certain. It usually occurs during Christmastime either way. Coins for Change is CP’s way of giving back. It has been a year or so since CP came out with this program and it has much been improved since. Players currently can chose to donate coins to three different causes: Build Safe Places, Protect the Earth, and Provide Medical Help. In the store, Rockhopper is selling a t-shirt with each of the logos supporting each cause for only 100 coins each. He also offers a free globe hat. In the captains quarters, Rockhopper has set up a holiday treasure hunt game which can get you a substantial amount of coins. The point is to get the coins and then donate them to the donation jar located to the right of the game.

So where do all the coins go? Well CP came up with a fun little place to stash them all so that penguins can see just how much they’ve contributed to the cause. If you visit the Lighthouse before Coins for Change is over, you’ll see how overloaded the place is with our coin donations!

So you can tell that Rockhopper’s adventures here have mainly been to endorse Coins for Change, which, don’t get me wrong, is a great program, but it is often more fun when Rockhopper visits as the fun loving pirate who actual waddles around in the ship and offers special pirate wear to our players.